Evidence that the Obama administration is trying to make the 17 percent cut in spending as painful as possible

Do you think American troops abroad care more about watching the Major League Baseball playoffs or  listening to the American Forces Network news channel?  How about having Alhurra TV, the small government-funded Middle Eastern network, on the air?  From The Hill newspaper:

Such discrepancies are feeding Republican accusations that the administration is deliberately trying to make the shutdown as painful as possible. . . . 

“In general terms, the leeway for what is open and what is not open is largely at the discretion of the president and the heads of the given agencies throughout the federal government,” said John Hudak, a fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. “The law says there’s no money for the government to function, but at the same time, the president is also charged with keeping the nation safe with a whole host of activities that he cannot let fall by the wayside.” . . .